May 23, 2019
As the school year is wrapping up and my tenure as board chair is coming to a close, I would like to take a moment to thank the dedicated group of parents, alumni and alumni parents who serve as trustees of the MPA Board. These 20 individuals commit to a three-year term where they serve on at least one of five standing committees (Executive, Governance, Finance, Development, and Audit) as well as bi-monthly board meetings. Via countless hours of meetings and emails they set strategic direction and approve budgets, audit risk, and raise critical funds.
Some of our goals this year included:
- Vision/Strategy: Developed a collaborative process to launch the next strategic planning effort.
- Financial & Risk Management: Oversaw legal risk and financial management for the organization.
- Leadership Oversight: Supported Dr. Hudson in leading and managing the school.
- Provided Resources: Aligned Board around development strategies and 100% participation in Together, We Dream: The Campaign for MPA (with various members serving on the Committee) and the MPA Fund. Served as MPA Brand Ambassadors by promoting the school in many capacities.
The Spirit Committee gathered yesterday to celebrate the contributions of long-time members, and senior parents, Kathy Bourne and Kathi Peterson. After many years of dedication to the Spirit Committee they bid a fond farewell with their seniors and leave MPA Athletics stronger than ever. Mounds Park Academy would like to sincerely thank them for their many hours of volunteer service and incredible contributions through the years.
A group of former MPA girls soccer players, some of their partners, eight little ones, and coaches Mike Scinto and Al Greimel recently got together for an MPA soccer reunion!
MPA alum Pa Chia Thao ’13 was a featured speaker at this year’s Breakthrough Twin Cities annual gala, the Booyah Bash. Pa Chia is a Mount Holyoke College Class of 2017 alumna majoring in astronomy and physics. She shared about the impact of Breakthrough Twin Cities and Mounds Park Academy during her remarks.
As the 2018–19 school year comes to an end, we’re sharing the college choice stories of several members of the Class of 2019!
Thank you to our entire community for helping to make the 2019 Spring Auction – Once Upon a Time a big success. Together, current parents, alumni families, grandparents, faculty and staff, and friends raised a grand total of $200,584!
Congratulations to the MPA Girls Softball Team for winning the 2019 IMAC Conference Championship! This is the first championship title to be won by MPA’s softball team in school history. This year’s team composition has been tremendously successful, as it features a variety of grades and even a few players from Gentry Academy, who MPA has a co-operative partnership with this year. There are two seniors, four juniors, six eighth graders, and three students from Gentry Academy. All the players showed a commitment to the team from the beginning, such as eighth grader Siri S., who chose to play on MPA’s team along with her traveling softball team.
Congratulations to the Middle School Quiz Bowl Team members on a great weekend at the NAQT Middle School Nationals in Chicago! All MPA players were competing at Nationals for the first time. The A Team (composed of Anthony T., Gabe M., Ella H., Sophia S., and Aidan H.,) finished 49th out of 176 teams. They qualified for the second day playoff! What great results for the first time at MSNCT!
The team also had some students competing at the individual level. Out of 919 players, eighth grader Anthony T. placed 18th (top 2%), seventh grader Akshay S. placed 121st (top 15%), and seventh grader Ben M. placed 313th (top 35%). Great work!
After his performance at March’s US Nordic Skiing Junior Nationals race in Anchorage, AK, freshman Isak Nightingale was one of just 40 youth nordic skiers invited to the US Skiing National U16 Nordic Camp this July at the College of St Scholastica in Duluth. The camp brings together the top U16 Boys and Girls talent from across the country for a week of intensive training and education as one of the first steps towards the US Skiing national team development pipeline. Congratulations, Isak!
Congratulations to sophomores Ryan Ghose and Livia Wooldridge on placing 19th in the Nation in the Duo Interpretation Speech category at NIETOC! Duo Interpretation is an event where two competitors create a performance taken from comedic or serious literature, and interpret it without looking at or making physical contact with each other. Ryan and Livia performed Stephen King’s “IT,” receiving high regards from their judges at the National Individual Events Tournament of Champions, or NIETOC for short. Unlike other national tournaments where qualification depends on success at one tournament, NIETOC requires students to demonstrate competitive excellence the entire season in order to qualify, making it difficult to gain acceptance. Schools of all sizes, including some with enrollments of up to 3,000 students, were represented. Great job, Ryan and Livia! Go Panthers!